A letter from Bob Butterfield in the U.S., retiring from service in Portugal
April 2015 - Tearful Departure
Dear Friends in Mission,
Keiko and I have just (April 21) returned to the U.S. We want to thank you all again for the loving support you gave our work in Portugal and also share with you some of the best reasons to be actively involved in mission.
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This is the going-away party given by Keiko's Tai-Chi group.
In the four and a half years we spent working with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Portugal, we did our best to help meet the church’s needs at the national, regional, and local level, and that meant our being engaged in a whole variety of activities. But at no time did we think that our contribution was so special. In fact, we often felt that whatever we were doing, a Portuguese pastor + spouse could do much better, and that the two congregations I served as teaching elder were not getting all the pastoring they really should have been getting from me.
Imagine our surprise, then, when the farewell parties for our departure in April 2015 began at Christmas 2014 and continued non-stop until April 19. During that four-month stretch our parishioners invited us to Sunday dinner every single week, and each time people killed the fatted calf (or piglet) for us. The worship services followed a similar pattern. When, at the conclusion of worship, I asked if there were any announcements, someone would stand up and tearfully testify to the impact we had had on their lives, and then we all cried and cried some more. And in the last few weeks before our departure the crying, kissing, and hugging grew more and more intense. In short, Keiko and I have never before been cried over, kissed over, or fussed over quite that much.
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Farewell dinner at the home of our clergy colleague Sandra and her parents.
The farewell party at one of the churches I served, the Presbyterian Church of Alhadas, the Saturday before we left Portugal gives you a good idea of how people felt. The highlight of that party was the performance by 10 members of the brass section of the local Philharmonic. This is the same group that plays in the Christmas Cantata every year. We got to know each other through those performances, and because Keiko and I attended all the concerts of the Philharmonic and all their fund-raisers too. Anyway, they came and played seven or eight pieces of American music obviously chosen just for us. Their leader, Fernando, who is also the long-time president of the Philharmonic, said with tears in his eyes that he would always remember the sermon I gave at the funeral of his dear friend José Carlos. Of course there were lots of laughs too and going-away gifts, and as usual we all cried and cried some more.
In reflecting on all this with our close friends in the Granja do Ulmeiro congregation, which I also served, we discovered what was behind this outpouring of emotion. As our friends Esmeraldina and Cinita explained to us, Keiko and I had been doing things their previous pastors usually weren’t able to do. Because of the traditional shortage of pastors in this church body, their previous pastors had to serve many congregations, and as a result, people saw their pastor only on Sunday and then only briefly. So when Keiko and I came and started visiting people at home, getting to know them and their kids and pets and doing Bible study in a relaxed way with plenty of time for people and their questions and concerns, it was by far the most attention they’d ever experienced from any pastor or pastor’s spouse. Our method in doing Bible study was also quite different from anything they had ever experienced. My goal was not to interpret the Bible for them but to teach them how to interpret the Bible on their own and thus work my way out of the job. People were simply not accustomed to being challenged to use their intelligence in this way.
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The good people in Granja do Ulmeiro. We became members of their family and were in their homes twice a week. These are the people who most benefited from Bible study.
Keiko and I don’t deserve any medals for doing what we did, which was actually nothing more than any good pastor in the U.S. does on a regular basis. What our work does show, however, is that mission co-workers doing simple things and building relationships can have a very positive impact.
So what’s the point? The point is that all around the world there are churches that have good intentions but lack the resources to teach, befriend, and pastor people the way we were able to do in Portugal. Why is that so important? Because people can’t really learn, grow, and develop a strong and informed faith unless they’re in close relationship with their pastor/teacher. Faith is relational, which is to say that people come to faith in Christ because they see Christ in some other human being. And in many cases that may not happen unless the PC(USA) sends someone to meet them.
What this means is that it’s time for the PC(USA) to be doing more mission, not less. Your and your congregation’s involvement in mission makes a real difference in human terms. With God’s help, you can change lives, and changing lives changes the world. We call such change the building up of the Kingdom of God, and so the next time you hear someone in your congregation, presbytery or synod talk about cutting the mission budget, please remind them that if we’re serious about building the Kingdom of God, we’re going to increase our giving to mission.
Keiko and I thank you all again for being so faithful, patient, and generous with your prayers, your cards and letters, your emails, your personal visits, and your financial support. It was always inspiring for us to know that we were all doing this work together.
Yours in Christ’s service,
Bob Butterfield
The 2015 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 325
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